The Work Between UsFace to face · 10–12 & 1–3
Before we gather
Read the selected sections from Relational Landscaping before arrival. Watch the 30-minute Touchstones introduction video. Receive the Touchstones handout, bring your booklet, and bring an object (anything) from home that represents belonging to you. Reflection question: “When have you most deeply experienced belonging?”
Touchstones: Be present as fully as possible · Turn to wonder · No fixing or saving · Trust and learn from the silence
Selected readings for this trainingKey concepts
- Relational soil and emotional climate
- The difference between inclusion and belonging
- Trust-building through attention and presence
- Emotional intelligence as communal practice
- Relational hospitality
Arrive & find common ground
10:00–10:30 · Welcome · groups of 4–5
What does the object you brought say about you, your people, or one of your gifts?
Facilitator notes
Arrival: warm music, coffee/tea, name tags, intentionally mixed tables, and visuals of belonging and connection. Introduce the purpose, Touchstones emphasis, and invitation into relational presence. For Common Ground, invite participants to choose: this object says something about who I am; my people; one of my gifts or successes; or other. Gather by category in groups of 4–5. Offer seated participation or a described object. Invite a brief whole-group share to move from surface interaction into human connection. Participants may pass.
Looking at myself
10:30–11:30 · Private writing · triad listening
When is a time I remember when I had to work to “fit in”? What did I do, how did it work out, and what did I learn? Where in my life do I experience belonging? What about that setting makes me feel I belong, and what do I learn there? Which is most prevalent in my work setting, belonging or fitting in? Why?
Facilitator notes
Begin with guided reflection: What experiences shaped my understanding of belonging? When do I feel most connected? What helps me feel emotionally safe? Use the Brené Brown video as a Third Thing; preview and time the excerpt before delivery. Allow quiet writing, then equal turns in triads. Practice: Be Present as Fully as Possible; Turn to Wonder; No Fixing or Saving; Trust and Learn from the Silence.
Pause
11:30–11:40 · Break
Stand, stretch, get water, or stay quietly seated.
Facilitator notes
Protect the full ten minutes. Keep the next invitation visible.
Map the relational landscape
11:40–12:00 · Individual mapping
Where is connection strong? Where is belonging weak? Which groups are invisible? Where are there areas of exclusion?
Facilitator notes
Use the existing participant map. People may use roles or groups instead of names. Keep maps private unless participants choose to share. End by asking each person to notice one pattern to return to after lunch.
Lunch
12:00–1:00 · Lunch · outside learning time
Take time to eat, rest, and reconnect.
Facilitator notes
Return at 1:00. Lunch is not counted in the four learning hours.
Belonging builders & barriers
1:00–1:30 · Table conversation
What behaviors create belonging? What unintentionally damages it? How does power shape who feels welcome?
Facilitator notes
Reconnect with the morning maps. Invite groups to name observable behaviors in two columns. Harvest patterns without naming or diagnosing individuals.
Optimism grounded in reality
1:30–1:55 · Third Thing · conversation
How can we be optimistic about where we are going while seeing clearly where we are?
Facilitator notes
Use a preselected Simon Sinek excerpt within this block. Distinguish positivity from optimism. Explore how clear vision and values can bind us, and how, without them, we may form bonds over other things that divide us. Allow discussion without requiring agreement.
Pause
1:55–2:00 · Break
Take a breath and return with fresh attention.
Facilitator notes
Protect this five-minute reset before visioning and going forward.
Values made visible
2:00–2:40 · Visioning · collective contribution
How do I bring back what I’ve learned here? Which PREVAIL values do I see optimistically? Which do I see as just “positivity”? How can we be optimistic about where we are going based upon a realistic view of where we are at?
Facilitator notes
Review the PREVAIL values and their descriptions below. Invite reflection on the questions, then share in groups. Connect a realistic view of present conditions with optimism about what can grow. Identify a practical way to bring the learning back to everyday work.
Carry belonging forward
2:40–3:00 · Private commitment · closing
One behavior to start. One relationship to nurture. One belonging practice to try.
Facilitator notes
Allow five minutes to write a realistic commitment. Offer the poem Easy to Be With as the closing Grace Note. Close with one sentence per willing participant, or a simultaneous written contribution for a large group. End at 3:00.
Whole Group Debriefs
Whole Group Debrief · Arrive & find common ground
What did the objects and stories help you discover about how belonging is experienced differently?
Chapter 1: Begin with Relationship · Journaling Prompts: First Fires · packet p. 9
How does your First Fires journal response about a small act of welcome connect with the objects and stories shared in Common Ground?
Open this debrief in the trainingWhole Group Debrief · Looking at myself
What did you discover about the difference between fitting in and belonging, and about listening without fixing?
Chapter 2: Trust Is the Culture · Journaling Prompts: Belonging and Being Seen; Risk and Safety · packet p. 14
How did your triad experience confirm or challenge what you wrote about being your authentic self at work and the conditions that make sharing feel safe?
Open this debrief in the trainingWhole Group Debrief · Belonging builders & barriers
Which belonging builder or barrier became clearer when you compared perspectives across your table?
Chapter 1: Begin with Relationship · Journaling Prompts: Relational Soil; Role Without Rank · packet p. 9
Which builder or barrier connects with what nourishes or depletes your relational soil, and with wisdom your journal identified beyond formal job titles?
Open this debrief in the trainingWhole Group Debrief · Optimism grounded in reality
What did you discover about holding a realistic view of our situation while remaining optimistic?
Chapter 4: From Conflict to Curiosity · Reflective Prompts: assumptions, underlying values, and turning to wonder · packet p. 20
How might turning to wonder about assumptions and underlying values help us distinguish realistic optimism from positivity that overlooks a problem?
Open this debrief in the trainingWhole Group Debrief · Values made visible
Which PREVAIL value became more concrete through your group’s conversation?
Chapter 6: Story as Bridge · Reflective Journal Prompt 1: a life story shaping values, decisions, or relationships · packet p. 27
How does the story you reflected on help you choose a concrete way to live a PREVAIL value in our work together?
Open this debrief in the trainingWhole Group Debrief · Carry belonging forward
What possibility for belonging do you now see that you did not see when we arrived?
Chapter 1: Begin with Relationship · Implementation Invitations: Start a Firewood Circle; Create a Listening Ritual · packet p. 9
How could your chosen next step put one of these small, repeatable connection practices into daily life?
Open this debrief in the trainingFeedback
Let us know how this gathering went for you so we can make it better going forward.